Banking & Finance: Circle Bank to open Corte Madera branch

Union Bank establishing private banking unit at San Rafael officeCircle Bank in Novato is planning to open a new branch in Corte Madera’s Town Center Mall this winter.

The 3,000-square-foot location will be the bank’s largest branch. It will be open seven days a week and have free Internet access, a media center and community room and on-premises baked cookies from dough provided by Homeward Bound in Novato. It will be child- and pet-friendly and have private banking officers.

“At Circle, we believe that it takes more than saying that you are a community bank to be one,” said Kim Kaselionis, president and chief executive officer of the bank.  “Dealing with financial issues, particularly in a difficult economy, is not easy. Our goal is to provide a comfortable environment, on-site decision-makers and a broad range of financial products."

Currently the bank has branches in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael and San Francisco.

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Union Bank is opening a private banking office in San Rafael to offer wealth management services, including private banking, trust and estate services, investments and wealth planning.

The services will be provided to individuals and families, as well as professional service firms such as law firms, medical practices and accounting firms. The private banking office is scheduled to open in September.

The office will be located in the former Tamalpais Bank headquarters building in San Rafael and will be led by a wealth market executive and four additional wealth management specialists.

"We have been providing banking services to the Bay Area for more than 145 years,” said Mary Curran, executive vice president and head of the private bank for Union Bank. “Our relationship managers know Marin County and have deep, local ties to the community. With the acquisition of Tamalpais Bank, we now have a more expanded presence in the region and want to bring additional services and our customized wealth management expertise to the area.”

Union Bank has nine offices in Marin County, with another retail branch set to open in Mill Valley in the fall.

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Kelly Bruns resigned from her position as senior vice president and chief credit officer of Sonoma Valley Bank, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Her positions will remain vacant while the board of directors of the bank considers possible replacement candidates.

The bank is currently operating under a consent order with regulators to increase and maintain a Tier 1 Capital Ratio of at least 10 percent and  a Total Risk Based Capital Ratio of at least 12 percent by Aug. 15 of this year. Regulators also have ordered the bank to improve the quality of its loan portfolio, including adoption of new policies and procedures to monitor risk in the loan portfolio, have and retain qualified management and prepare and submit quarterly progress reports while the order is in effect.

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Submit items for this column to Jenna V. Loceff at jloceff@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4259 or fax 707-521-5292.

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